A moment's panic
by Readywriter2
Summary: Captain America does not panic. He keeps calm in all situations. But Captain America's shield just went missing, and Steve Rogers is definitely panicking.


Steve Rogers woke up this morning to an unpleasant surprise.

He got up, washed up, and went back to sleep because why would he continue to stay awake this early on this beautiful Saturday? Days when he could wake up without worrying about the world going to fall into pieces were far and few between. He snuggled back under the bed sheets.

But then Tony came to knock on his door, and everything went to hell.

Steve groaned. For another moment, he let himself bury his face into the soft, enticing pillow. Then he braced himself, getting up to open the door.

Tony stood in the doorway, and the too-wide smile on his face could only mean that something was terribly wrong. Steve only sighed.

"What is it this time?"

"Well…"

At this point, Steve noticed that Tony was not the only Avenger there. Wanda and Sam were behind Tony, and they looked like they were _with _Tony, to break some bad news together.

Uh oh.

"The thing is… err…"

"Your shield's gone." Sam completed Tony's sentence in a rather anti-climatic way.

Momentary silence.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

"So this intern, right, was doing a routine check for the equipment, and he reported that the shield's gone. It wasn't hung up where it was supposed to be," Tony said to him as they all walked towards the equipment storage room, like walking to the scene of the crime would help the situation at all.

_How could this happen? _Steve wanted to shout. Not that it would be of any use.

"Did you check – "

"The cameras? Of course we did! But no one's entered. And there's not a single glitch over the past 24 hours, so it's unlikely that anyone tried hacking it. Nothing out of the usual was seen. The camera _inside _the room? It just showed that, like, 2 hours ago, the shield just disappeared! Vaporised into thin air."

"A teleporter," Steve breathed.

"Yup," Sam responded. "Someone just stole the shield. Most probable case: this teleporter can also turn invisible, that's how they snuck in and got out."

"Check the rest of the compound. We don't know why they wanted the shield. Could be that they wanted to use the vibranium for some science experiment or something like that. We need to check if there's anything else missing, ASAP. If they stole the shield without anyone noticing… who knows what else they might have stolen." Steve completed his sentence ominously.

"Already on it, Cap," Tony replied.

Cap. It was his name on the field. At any other time, Tony calls him Steve. But now was not "any other time". Now, Steve's morning was ruined, and they had an investigation to complete.

* * *

By now, most of the Avengers were woken up from their Saturday sleep-in and, with varying degrees of grudgingness, searching for anything else that might have gone missing.

Still, the hour went by with no avail. The thief appeared to have stolen nothing but the shield.

The Avengers had regathered in the meeting room after their search. No one could find anything missing – it really was just the shield that was gone.

"Maybe they just really, really wanted the vibranium," Tony suggested. "I mean, if it's enough vibranium for an experiment, then why not? Instead of barging into Wakanda, why not just steal the closest vibranium object? I'm not discrediting my own security system for this compound. I'm just saying, it's definitely easier than trying to evade the full force of an entire country's security system."

What a reassuring thought – that an apparent teleporter who could apparently turn invisible just stole his weapon, and that it could be used in experiments to make weapons for no good.

"Yeah, but… just the shield? I mean, why not steal anything else that's convenient? Just the shield out of the entire equipment room? I'm just saying, if I were to steal something, I'd go big or go home." Natasha piped in.

"I know. You know, I'd do the same thing. _That_ part doesn't make sense. But the shield - it's the only thing missing."

"I found the shield."

Silence.

All heads swivelled around to turn to Thor, who was leaning against the doorway.

"…What?"  
"I said I found your shield."

More silence.

"It was at the compound the entire time."

Even more silence.

Thor sighed, and stopped leaning. He rubbed a hand over his forehead. "I'll just show you. Come with me and you'll understand."

The Avengers trailed behind Thor as he led them to one of the exits to outside of the compound building. Halfway through, he suddenly stopped and turned around. "Before you, uh… see what actually happened to the shield, I just want to say sorry in advance."

Looks of incredulity and confusion were shared between the other Avengers, but before questions could be asked, Thor continued on the exit path.

Their questions were soon answered.

Outside of the compound, were what appeared to be small snow hills that could not have occurred naturally. And, taking said advantage of those miniature snow hills, was one (1) known trickster.

Loki was sledding on said snow hills with Steve's shield.

He'd tucked his body onto the shield, and slowly pushed himself off the top of one of the hills, and let out a small screech of excitement as he careened down the slope.

He was having the time of his life.

That is, until his sled came to a stop at the base of a hill, in front of nine pissed-off-to-varying-degrees Avengers.

For a few moments there was nothing but silence.

"I was never here," Loki declared suddenly, and proceeded to teleport somewhere far away.

* * *

It was late afternoon now.

Loki's snow hills were still there.

Steve walked into the kitchen to check that Tony hadn't stolen the cupcakes he had been saving for tomorrow, when he saw that Loki was standing next to the kitchen counter, stuffing his mouth.

His heart stopped for a few moments, but then Steve saw that those were Natasha's cookies. Well, he wasn't the one who's going to have internal bleeding in the next hour when she finds out.

Steve went over to the fridge, opened the door, and sighed in relief. The cupcakes were still there. Not one was missing.

He closed the door. Loki was also pretending to ignore his existence.

Steve wasn't going to get an apology anytime soon.

Well.

"So, uh… Loki…"

"You want to know what it feels like to go sledding with the shield."

Steve was almost shocked, but then, Loki had always been perceptive.

"And I know you want to find out for yourself."

Some twenty minutes and several failed attempts to climb up a snow hill later, Steve was screaming and sliding down said snow hill at what had to be an illegal speed, clinging onto his shield for his dear life.


End file.
